<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>[Chapter 9] 9.5 ItemSelectable</TITLE>
<META NAME="author" CONTENT="John Zukowski">
<META NAME="date" CONTENT="Thu Jul 31 14:44:42 1997">
<META NAME="form" CONTENT="html">
<META NAME="metadata" CONTENT="dublincore.0.1">
<META NAME="objecttype" CONTENT="book part">
<META NAME="otheragent" CONTENT="gmat dbtohtml">
<META NAME="publisher" CONTENT="O'Reilly &amp; Associates, Inc.">
<META NAME="source" CONTENT="SGML">
<META NAME="subject" CONTENT="Java AWT">
<META NAME="title" CONTENT="Java AWT">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Script-Type" CONTENT="text/javascript">
</HEAD>
<body vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0000ee">

<DIV CLASS=htmlnav>
<H1><a href='index.htm'><IMG SRC="gifs/smbanner.gif"
     ALT="Java AWT" border=0></a></H1>
<table width=515 border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
<tr>
<td width=172 align=left valign=top><A HREF="ch09_04.htm"><IMG SRC="gifs/txtpreva.gif" ALT="Previous" border=0></A></td>
<td width=171 align=center valign=top><B><FONT FACE="ARIEL,HELVETICA,HELV,SANSERIF" SIZE="-1">Chapter 9<br>Pick Me</FONT></B></TD>
<td width=172 align=right valign=top><A HREF="ch10_01.htm"><IMG SRC="gifs/txtnexta.gif" ALT="Next" border=0></A></td>
</tr>
</table>

&nbsp;
<hr align=left width=515>
</DIV>
<DIV CLASS=sect1>
<h2 CLASS=sect1><A CLASS="TITLE" NAME="JAWT-CH-9-SECT-5">9.5 ItemSelectable</A></h2>

<P CLASS=para>
In Java 1.1, the classes <tt CLASS=literal>Checkbox</tt>, <tt CLASS=literal>Choice</tt>, 
<tt CLASS=literal>List</tt>, and <tt CLASS=literal>CheckboxMenuItem</tt> 
(covered in the next chapter) share a common interface that defines a method 
for getting the currently selected item or items. This means that you can 
use the same methods to retrieve the selection from any of these classes. 
More important, it means that you can write code that doesn't know 
what kind of selectable item it's working with. For example, you 
could write a method that returns the selectable component from some user 
interface. This method might have the signature: 

<DIV CLASS=screen>
<P>
<PRE>
public ItemSelectable getChooser();
</PRE>
</DIV>

<P CLASS=para>
After you call this method, you can read selections from the user interface 
without knowing exactly what you're dealing with. 

<DIV CLASS=sect2>
<h3 CLASS=sect2><A CLASS="TITLE" NAME="JAWT-CH-9-SECT-5.1">Methods</A></h3>

<DL CLASS=variablelist>
<DT CLASS=varlistentry><I CLASS=emphasis>public Object[] getSelectedObjects () <img src="gifs/bstar.gif" alt="(New)" border=0> </I><br>
<DD>

<P CLASS=para>
The <tt CLASS=literal>getSelectedObjects()</tt> method 
returns the currently selected item or items as an <tt CLASS=literal>Object</tt> 
array. The return value is <tt CLASS=literal>null</tt> 
if there is nothing selected. </DL>
</DIV>

</DIV>


<DIV CLASS=htmlnav>

<P>
<HR align=left width=515>
<table width=515 border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
<tr>
<td width=172 align=left valign=top><A HREF="ch09_04.htm"><IMG SRC="gifs/txtpreva.gif" ALT="Previous" border=0></A></td>
<td width=171 align=center valign=top><a href="index.htm"><img src='gifs/txthome.gif' border=0 alt='Home'></a></td>
<td width=172 align=right valign=top><A HREF="ch10_01.htm"><IMG SRC="gifs/txtnexta.gif" ALT="Next" border=0></A></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=172 align=left valign=top>CheckboxGroup</td>
<td width=171 align=center valign=top><a href="index/idx_a.htm"><img src='gifs/index.gif' alt='Book Index' border=0></a></td>
<td width=172 align=right valign=top>Would You Like to Choose from the Menu?</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr align=left width=515>

<IMG SRC="gifs/smnavbar.gif" USEMAP="#map" BORDER=0> 
<MAP NAME="map"> 
<AREA SHAPE=RECT COORDS="0,0,108,15" HREF="../javanut/index.htm"
alt="Java in a Nutshell"> 
<AREA SHAPE=RECT COORDS="109,0,200,15" HREF="../langref/index.htm" 
alt="Java Language Reference"> 
<AREA SHAPE=RECT COORDS="203,0,290,15" HREF="../awt/index.htm" 
alt="Java AWT"> 
<AREA SHAPE=RECT COORDS="291,0,419,15" HREF="../fclass/index.htm" 
alt="Java Fundamental Classes"> 
<AREA SHAPE=RECT COORDS="421,0,514,15" HREF="../exp/index.htm" 
alt="Exploring Java"> 
</MAP>
</DIV>

</BODY>
</HTML>
